Michael Crummey
Michael Crummey (born November 18, 1965) is a Canadian poet and prose writer. Life Born in Buchans, Newfoundland and Labrador, Crummey grew up there and in Wabush, Labrador, where he moved with his family in the late 1970s. He began to write poetry while studying at Memorial University in St. John's, where he earned a B.A. in English in 1987. He completed a M.A. at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, in 1988, then dropped out of the Ph.D. program to pursue his writing career. Crummey returned to St. John's in 2001. Writing Crummey's writing often draws on the history and landscape of Newfoundland and Labrador. The poems and prose in Hard Light are inspired by the stories of his father and other relatives, and the short stories in Flesh and Blood take place in the fictional mining community of Black Rock, which strongly resembles Buchans. Crummey's novels in particular can be described as historical fiction. River Thieves details the contact and conflict between European settlers and the last of the Beothuk in the early 19th century, including the capture of Demasduwit. The Wreckage tells the story of young Newfoundland soldier Wish Fury and his beloved Sadie Parsons during and after World War II. Recognition Since winning Memorial University's Gregory J. Power Poetry Contest in 1986, Crummey has continued to receive accolades for his poetry and prose. In 1994, he became the inaugural winner of the Bronwen Wallace Memorial Award for young unpublished writers, and his debut volume of poetry, Arguments with Gravity (1996), won the Writer's Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador Book Award for Poetry. Hard Light (1998), his next collection, was nominated for the Milton Acorn People's Poetry Award in 1999. 1998 also saw the publication of a collection of short stories, Flesh and Blood, and Crummey's nomination for the Journey Prize. Crummey's debut novel, River Thieves (2001), became a Canadian bestseller, winning the Thomas Head Raddall Award, the Winterset Award for Excellence in Newfoundland Writing, and the Atlantic Independent Booksellers' Choice Award. It was also shortlisted for the Giller Prize, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, the Books in Canada First Novel Award, and was long-listed for the IMPAC Award. His 2nd novel, The Wreckage (2005), was longlisted for the 2007 IMPAC Award. His third novel Galore (2009) was shortlisted for the 2011 IMPAC Award. Publications Poetry *''Arguments With Gravity''. Kingston, ON: Quarry Press, 1996. *''Hard Light''. London, ON: Brick Books, 1998. *''Emergency Roadside Assistance''. Stratford, ON: Trout Lily Press, 2001. *''Salvage''. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2002. *''Chapel Street Torque''. St. John's, NL: Running the Goat Books & Broadsides, 2002. *''Fire Down Below: Some poetry''. Calgary: Fox Run Press, 2003. *''Under the Keel: Poems''. Toronto: Anansi, 2013. *''Little Dogs: New and selected poems''. Toronto: Anansi, 2016. Play *''Afterimage'' (by Robert Chafe & Michael Crummey). Toronto: Playwrights Canada Press, 2010. Novels *''River Thieves''. Toronto: Doubleday, 2001; Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2002. *''The Wreckage: A novel''. Toronto: Doubleday, 2005. *''Galore: A novel''. Toronto: Doubleday, 2009; New York: Other Press, 2010. *''Sweetland''. Toronto: Doubleday, 2014; London: Corsair, 2015; New York: Liveright, 2015. Short fiction *''Flesh and Blood: Stories''. Vancouver: Beach Holme Publishing, 1998. **expanded, Toronto: Anchor Canada, 2003. Non-fiction *''Newfoundland: Journey into a lost nation'' (with photos by Greg Locke). Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2004. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Michael Crummey, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. Web, Sep. 13, 2012. Audio / video *''Michael Crummey'' (DVD). Toronto: Ticklescratch Productions, 2004. *''Hard Light: 32 little stories'' (MP3). Tors Cove, NL: Rattling Books, 2007. Except where noted, discographical information courtesy WorldCat. See also *Newfoundland poets *List of Canadian poets References Notes External links ;Poems *Michael Crummey: Two poems at LemonHound *Michael Crummey at Canadian Poetry Online (profile & 6 poems) ;Prose *"Afterwords: Falling in love with poetry", The New Quarterly ;Audio / video *Michael Crummey at YouTube *2011 podcast interview at the Bat Segundo Show ;Books *Michael Crummey at Amazon.com ;About *Michael Crummey in the Canadian Encyclopedia *Michael Crummey at Newfoundland & Labrador Heritage *[Interview with Leo Furey from the Antigonish Review, May 2002 * Michael Crummey interview at Abe Books, 2009. Category:1965 births Category:Living people Category:Canadian novelists Category:Canadian poets Category:Canadian short story writers Category:People from Buchans Category:Writers from Newfoundland and Labrador Category:Memorial University of Newfoundland alumni Category:20th-century poets Category:21st-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Newfoundland poets